And I would have no problem if they went a step further and suspended him. That would be justified.
For trying to lead? It’s not Kyrie’s strong suit, but is he wrong that there are agendas on the team? That there’s coasting, from guys who haven’t earned the right to coast?
Yes. When his attempts are causing divisions within the team instead of bringing the team together.
Larry Bird called his teammates “sissies” during the NBA Finals. His goal was to p--- them off, to motivate them. KG made BBD cry, and was downright mean to guys who didn’t put work in.
It used to be when somebody questioned a guy’s manhood, he tried to prove his doubters wrong. Now, it’s seemingly an excuse to shrink and play poorly.
If Tatum and Brown are going to be stars, they need to become mentally tougher.
The league is trending towards softer treatment, but I think it's silly. The people getting critical of this are confusing to me, because I bet they loved KG and what he did
KG had the clout to do that... You tend to have a little more credibility when you give 100% effort every second you're on the court for your entire career.
Kyrie is a different story... I think the fact that he called out his teammates to be more accountable and then sat out the very next game with no apparent injury - fair or not - tells you everything you need to know about Kyrie's, "leadership abilities."
This is the same guy who didn't attend game 7 of the eastern conference finals... And who refused to talk to his Cav teammates for an entire season. Great player? Sure. Great leader, example, teammate? I don't know anyone who's ever accused him of that.
KG punched two different teammates (Wally Szczerbiak and Rick Rickert) during his tenure with Minnesota. People love to talk up KG's leadership qualities, but he was far perfect. "Leaders" make mistakes all the time - although I still don't think Kyrie was out of line with anything he said. In fact, if you go through your favorite player's history, I guarantee you'll find some questionable things in the early years before they become "leaders". For more disparaging than anything Kyrie said in that postgame press conference.
To follow this up, the great Celtic leader himself, Larry Bird, was so good at being a leader and setting an example, he got into a bar fight in the middle of the 1985 ECFs and may have done damage to his hand that he played through the rest of the playoffs. A playoffs where the C's lost to the Lakers in the playoffs for the first time ever.
Not every leader starts out a great leader or is a great leader all the time.
Also, to IDreamCeltics, stating Kyrie sat out for no apparent reason last game is extremely inaccurate. The Celtics medical team and front office said he was injured. Kyrie said he was injured. Stevens said he was injured. So he sat out. But he was on the bench, cheering his team on and talking to his team mates during the game. You have to think if the team felt he was lying to them about the injury, he wouldn't be allowed to sit courtside.
If you want to be critical of Kyrie, go right ahead, but stating he had no apparent injury when everyone involved with the situation said he was injured simply because you want to be critical of the guy ain't cool. You're just trying to create a false narrative there.